John Brush

Elder, The South Florida Church of Christ, Davie, Florida, USA

Pat and I live in Pembroke Pines, Florida where I serve as an Elder and she as a Women’s Ministry Leader in the South Florida Church of Christ. We have been here since January of 1999 and served as a Region Leader until appointed Elder in September of that same year.

We were both converted in the campus ministry at the University of Maryland that the Crossroads church sent out in the early 1970’s. I was a student leader in that ministry until I graduated in December of 1975. I first worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture as a biologist for a little over two years, but then attended the Harding Graduate School of Religion where I received my Master’s of Arts in Religion Degree in New Testament Studies. I began my ministry career serving as Campus Minister at the University of Maryland and also at Howard University and at American University. In 1986, my family moved to Tallahassee, Florida and led the church for 4 years. We moved to the Miami/ Ft. Lauderdale Church of Christ in 1990 where we served for 3 years as Region Leaders. After that, we around the state of Florida leading in various capacities in different congregations until we were asked to move back to South Florida in January 1999.

Pat and I are blessed with twin girls Sarah and Rachel. Sarah was active in the campus ministry at Gainesville, Florida until her graduation from the University of Florida in December 2006. She moved to Philadelphia to work with HOPE Worldwide for a year and then moved to State College, PA. to help plant the church and work with the campus ministry at Penn State University. Rachel was active in the campus ministry in South Florida until her graduation from Florida International University in May 2006. She is married to Rodrigo Acosta and lives in Miami, Fl. where they lead the youth ministry in the South Dade Region of the church. Rodrigo serves as an intern for the church and Rachel works for the University of Miami.

We are humbled when we think of what God has done in our lives and in the churches during the last 35 years. We have been able to be a part of the growth of a movement that began in campus ministries in the USA and grew to plant churches all over the world. God has given us friendships that will last forever. We have experienced great personal victories and victories in the churches. With those triumphs, we have experienced the loving discipline of the Lord. I believe that the best times are ahead of us, individually and as a people of God. Pat and I have been, and always will be, committed to helping people build relationships with God based on his Word, prayer and obedience so that the church can reflect the joy and glory of God. We have come this far by God’s mercy and grace, and by that mercy we will go all the way home. May each of us say, along with our brother Paul, “But by the grace of God I am what I am…” (1 Corinthians 15:10)